Towing with 2008 Honda Civic

[Kennedycamper]

My son has a 2008 Honda Civic sedan, and wants to tow an 825 lb Pop Up camper. The Civic manual says it will tow 1000 lbs, and the trailer is under on the hitch weight too. Anyone have any real world experience with towing with small cars, and have an opinion on this setup? It won't be thru the mountains, or any really big hills. Thanks in advance.

[Kennedycamper]

Thanks for the replies. It"s my son's car, and I just don't want to see it get tore up; however, the trips would probably be less than 100 miles round trip, and in the flats of coastal Texas. The trans cooler does sound like a great idea. Thanks again, Nelson.

[IndyCamp]

I know a guy who towed the small single-axle U-Haul trailer, packed with about 1,000 pounds of stuff, with a stock, two-door, year 2000 Chevy Cavalier, from San Antonio to Ann Arbor. This was in 2002, and the car was only two years old.

That's about 1,500 miles, and he made it with no problems.

Take that for what it's worth, which, like everything on the internet, is not much. 😉

[blt2ski]

Something that does not get brought up a lot about towing with smaller rigs, is trailer brakes. Technically and legally your son probably does not need them on the trailer. BUT from experience with smaller trailers like this, even behind 25/35 series sw and dw trucks, brakes on TV lasted longer, stopped quicker etc. I would suspect that a Civic would notice this even more so. Cost if done yourself, less then $500 or so. No need imho for a expensive brakesmart controller.....
In this case, some kind of braking ability on trailer will be better than nothing.
I would also us a U1 sized battery, enough power to stop.trailer. Along with.it could light some LED lights inside the trailer. Too small for much else, but it would not add a lot of hitch.weight to trailer if put on back side of hitch, or even if it would fit on inside front wall of trailer.

Marty

[jerem0621]

Here is a few pics of an old PUP I had. This was a 68 or 69 Apache Eagle. I stil regret selling it. It weighed less than 600 lbs and had a scaled tongue weight of 75 lbs. it was a dream to pull.

Rear of the trailer...notice the entrance door on the back. Yes that is a full awning. Under the pull out beds you can see the roof halves that fold up and made a hard cover to protect the camper while Stowed. When folded down like they are they made neat little under bed shelves for some lightweight stuff.



Her is an interior shot looking from the door...the beds were on either side. Yes that iis bug spray. The camper had been sitting a long time. What was interesting about this Eagle was that it had the optional flip up cabinet instead of the dinette.



Here is one of the beds.



We never camped in it as it really did need new canvas and mattresses but I sold it to an Apache enthusiast and doubled my money.

These things are out there but the closest I can find made today is the quicksilver camper. It's pretty fantastic.

OP...I would make sure your son had a Transmission Cooler installed on the car and I would go camping.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[blt2ski]

Any one recall the ~300ci I6motors from the 60's to early 80's in GM and Ford trucks installed in 25-65 series trucks, with 105hp and maybe at best 300 lbs of torque!?!?!?!? Moving upwards of 26K lbs. I move upwards of 26 in my IHC dumptruck with an IDI 7.3 that is rated at 175/335, no steenken turbo to boot! THen again, I have 7 forward gears too.

reality is, the civic should be able to do this, PROPERLY set up!

marty

[horton333]

D.E.Bishop wrote:
An interesting topic, what can you tow safely with a low horsepower, low tow capacity vehicle.

Model A had 40 horsepower, and a clutch so weak my grandfather had to back his up one steep hill near his house. A interesting story about seeing that restoration and trailers, thanks.

You got me thinking about another old days story. I'vet Andy Thompson many times and driven several of his small car combinations, all of which are excellent handling. He puts a sign on his diesel Jetta that compares the power of that modern car to a Suburban v8 diesel in the "old days" of the 1980s. The Jetta beats the Suburban on pulling power. I further note that Suburban without a trailer weighs about the same as the Jetta does with the full height trailer that Canam likes to match the Jetta with. The Honda civic has slightly more horsepower than that V8 Suburban too, and while torque is only about half with the huge weight difference the Civic with a 1000# of trailer is about the same as the Suburban with no trailer. Power is only part of the story of course, but I wonder if any of those who think the Civic will be so underpowered would have said the same about a V8 diesel in a Suburban .....

[Jebby14]

I wouldn't, at the least that's asking a lot for the trans. That said watch payload closely. I would be curious to see a trailer that is camp ready at under 900 lbs. Got pics?

[D_E_Bishop]

An interesting topic, what can you tow safely with a low horsepower, low tow capacity vehicle.

I have never seen a Model A ford owners manual and I have no idea what the horse power/torque ratings are, much less the tongue weight allowable is but they have been used to tow a variety of trailers.

To be completely political, we here in the USA have been regulated (read that as baby sat) by the federal government and the courts for so long that we now accept their regulations in many areas without question.

So my question to you is, would you build and tow a 8 to 10 foot teardrop trailer from let's say Kentucky to Fairbanks and back to Kentucky, using a fully restored to original specifications Model A Ford Two door sedan or coupe? And could you do it safely, abet slowly?

We were returning from spending the Summer Solstice at the BLM campground about a half mile past the Arctic Circle on the Haul Road when we stopped to top off at the Yukon River Crossing and saw one of each of those Model A Fords sitting in the line for gas there. The next day at Rivers Edge we had a down day due to the DGD not feeling well and across the loop road from us sat those two Model A's and their respectful trailers. As it turns out one of the guys was the President of the Kentucky Model A Ford Restorers Association.

I agree with 73guna and horton333, there's a lot more to towing than in the USA, CYA specifications in todays owners manuals.

[horton333]

The Civic is a solid pearky car and put a proper hitch on it and if you really have a trailer that light he will be delighted. The aftermarket hitches are rated 2,000# for both models of Civic, more in line with the capability of the car than 1000#.

In Europe it is common to see Civics towing much larger trailers than a 1000#, with good results and the Civic is a popular choice there (with the deisel motor and a manual transmission they pull full height 3500# trailers reliably). On this N/A forum I was waiting for certain people to suggest an F150 was required.

[Adam_R]

I once towed a 3000 lb trailer with my '81 Subaru sedan with the mighty 1.6L engine in it. Couldn't even tell it was back there....at least not until I tried to accelerate, stop, turn, look behind me, change lanes, or roll down the window when I was brave enough to take one hand off the steering wheel. I'm sure a modern Civic could handle 1000 lbs, but most of what I did as a teenager should never be duplicated.

Adam

[bikendan]

i'd like to know, what popup camper weighs only 825lbs.

can't be a conventional popup. has to be a super-minimalist type.
probably not one from a regular RV manufacturer.

[73guna]

Well, I cant answer your question, but if I were looking for an answer to that question I wouldnt ask people who tow huge rv's with heavy duty diesel pickups. 😉
Your gonna get laughed at.

Personnaly I dont think its out of the realm of the car, but it also depends on the drivers experience pulling trailers and posted speed limits.
I wouldnt take it on the interstate when semi's are doing 75mph.
That would be scary...

Maybe google 2008 civic pulling trailer etc... you'd be surprised what comes up.
Try a civic forum.

heres an example.

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/garage/289936-question-regarding-towing.html

[Lessmore]

Twenty five years ago we had a Coleman folding trailer and were sitting around at the campground. We were using our '76 Impala, RWD, 350 V8 to tow...no problem.

A man came to our campground and had the same Coleman folder trailer, but was using a new (at the time) Toyota Tercel, 1.5 liter, 4 speed standard. It was his family's first trip. He said he had come 50 miles towing the trailer on flat, prairie roads, with the Tercel. He asked us if our engine was overheaing and how fast could we tow our Coleman. I said the 350 V8 was running at normal temp and we were traveling at the speed limit (65mph) with no problems.

He replied that his 1.5 liter four's engine temp gauge was running close to the red mark and that all they could get out of the car, towing the trailer, was 50 mph...flat out.

He said for the summer holiday they planned to tow the trailer over the Rockies, but with this initial 50 mile run of flat land, he was having misgivings.

I told him his car, engine, brakes, cooling system, etc...were too small for towing the trailer. I told him he needs a bigger, more powerful vehicle as obviously his car was not up to towing.

He told me the trailer salesman said his Tercel could handle the trailer no problem.

I rest my case.

[jwblock]

You are goofy.. Tell me you are not serious...